I've spent much of the past 12 hours thinking deeply about the tragic events that took place today at the Gurdwara ("Sikh temple") in Oak Creek, Wis.

What happened today was tragic at so many levels -- tragic because my family and friends belong to the sangat ("congregation") of the Oak Creek Gurdwara, tragic because it was an act of violence in a place of worship, tragic because it was an act of violence that will not only affect the victims and their families, but will forever affect all of humanity.

Albert Einstein once said "the most important decision we make is whether we believe we live in a friendly or hostile Universe."

Today it probably seems that we live in a hostile Universe, where fear is the basis of most human interaction. Fear of people from other cultures, fear of people who dress differently -- fear of people with different beliefs.

But do we really live in a hostile Universe filled with fear?

Or is the hostile Universe simply an illusion behind which the friendly Universe is hidden away? Perhaps the friendly Universe is "a world beyond the world we see with our physical eyes," as Marianne Williamson wrote in her book, "A Return to Love."

Perhaps the hostile Universe we experienced today is one in which people don't feel love because the world has become a loveless place for them. And where love is absent, fear is present.

Perhaps replacing fear with love is the way to uncover the friendly Universe -- a Universe in which acts of violence like those today at the Sikh Gurdwara in Oak Creek would not happen.